Guileless Endeavers
by ChewyKookie
Summary: It took crooked cravats, a climbing fiasco, and an acceptance of crude little flowers, but Levi didn't too mind much- so long as he saw her smile. Kids!AU. Levi/Mikasa


**Because I've always wanted to write them as kids but I don't really know how, so I just gave it a shot and hoped for the best lol i hope you guys enjoy! **

_**Rivamika Week, Day 7: Baby's breath**_

_**Prompt: Innocence- sheltering what is delicate or fragile.**_

_**Summary: It took crooked cravats, a climbing fiasco, and an acceptance of crude little flowers, but Levi didn't too mind much- so long as he saw her smile. Kids!AU.**_

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><p>The moment Levi stepped into the classroom, he knew something was wrong.<p>

There was no usual yelling and screaming of his peers. There were no flying books or broken crayons sprawled across the carpet. There weren't even any toppled toy bins to be seen. Other than the sounds of quiet mumbling and soft crying there was silence, and this immediately rubbed him the wrong way. At the very back of the classroom was where most of his class gathered, seeming to hover and loom over something concernedly. Something was wrong, he grimaced, and he would get to the bottom of it. So, setting down his little knapsack by his desk, he walked determinedly to the flock of kids.

It wasn't until he had quietly- but authoritatively- stepped through the tiny crowd of second graders that he realized the gravity of the situation. There, right in the center of huddled children, sat little Mikasa Ackerman- and she was _crying_. Immediately, his narrow blue eyes widened in shock, and his young boy mind stumbled to process the mess before him.

He was young, but he was smart, and Levi had learned much in his eight years of existence, and Mikasa Ackerman wasn't someone gone unoticed. She was the fastest girl in the class, best in Attack on Titan and second only to him. She was the kind of girl who pushed other boys off of Armin during a brawl; she was the one who purposely tracked mud all around his cubby space after he had pushed Eren off the slide. She was strong, and quick, and a fighter- she was _not_ someone who cried, ever. Feeling oddly troubled by the tears rolling down her cherub features, the boy stepped forward to the sobbing girl.

"Oi, brat!" He called, a small petulant frown on his face, "whats wrong?" When she didn't answer, Armin stepped up, large baby blue eyes worried.

"Mikasa can't find her scarf," he said, watching as Sasha offered the girl a starburst, only to be rejected with a shake of her head. "We looked all over the playground, but we can't find it." Levi knew of the scarf he blonde was speaking of- _everyone _knew about how attached she was to it- and it irritated him how sad she was over something so worn and ratty. It was stupid-and being an eight year old boy, he decided to say so outloud.

"Why are you crying over a crummy old scarf?" he asked in an annoyed voice, scowling. "It's ugly and old and stupid." Suddenly the girl's head snapped up, eyes blazing, and the kids all took a step back in fear.

"It's not an ugly old scarf!" She yelled in her high, childish voice. "You're the stupid one, chibi!" He glared at her then, because even though she was an inch taller she didn't have to point it out every two seconds, but before he could say anything Farlan quickly took him by the arm and dragged him away. Levi let him, following him without much struggle, but couldn't help but peer back at the girl behind him. She was crying even harder now, he realized, and Levi felt something slimy and icky coil in his gut- guilt, Erwin had told him once. He didn't like feeling icky- downright _hated _it- but he had long since realized that he couldn't scrub away the feeling the way he could scrub away crayola streaks from his hands.

With that thought in mind, the boy set his goal and stalked out to the playground with his friend in tow, determined to alleviate the guilt in his gut and appease the crying girl behind him.

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><p>It wasn't until the next day that he found her again, this time sitting dejectedly on the swing set after school. She had long since stopped crying, but had remained depressed for the last two days. The kids were currently waiting for their parents to come and pick them up, so they were running around like wild animals all over the playground- save for Eren and, surprisingly, Annie, who tried for a final time to console the sad girl.<p>

"Let's play Attack on Titan, okay Mikasa?" Eren suggested, trying to cheer his sister up. "Me and Annie will be the titans, and you can try to catch us!" The blonde girl beside him nodded silently in agreement, and he even tried to prod a stick into his sister's hands, but his hopeful words fell on deaf ears. Mikasa only shook her head sadly, and with a helpless shrug the two children left her to her solitude.

Taking his chance, he walked forward determinedly until he was right next to her, but she didn't even look up to acknowledge him, her gaze set firmly to the ground. With an angry frown- for he hated being ignored- he shook the swing sharply, jarring her, and before she could tackle him he quickly grabbed the object under his arm.

"Here," he said gruffly, plopping the neatly folded scarf on the top of her head. Her eyes widened in surprise, reaching up and staring at the fabric in awe before rubbing it to make sure it was really there. "It was in a tree, and I got it down, and so you can stop crying and sulking now." he said distastefully, watching as she wound the scarf snugly around her neck despite how hot it was outside.

Levi was a private person, and quite prideful for a child his age, and so he refused to tell Mikasa many things. He didn't tell her that it had taken him all of yesterday _and _today to look for it, only to find it stuck in a tree branch at the very edge of the playground. He didn't tell her that the tree had been nearly five times his size, or that he had fallen twice trying to reach said branch. He didn't tell her he scraped him hands trying to climb it, or that it had taken him nearly an hour to finally grab it- an eternity for kids their age. He didn't tell her that the scarf had been mucky and knotted, and that it had taken him fifteen minutes in the washroom to bring it back to its former glory. No, he didn't tell her any of this, nor did he plan to, but if there was one thing that Mikasa was good at, it was being acute.

Despite his attempt to clean up quickly so that he could stalk her down before school ended, she could see the obvious signs of his troubles. There were blue cookie monster bandages around his fingers that hadn't been there before. His shirt was tucked and his cravat still in place, but there were small smudges on his sleeves and the knot at his neck was a little lopsided. His pants had faint specks of dirt, although there were no holes in them, and was that... a twig in his hair? Mikasa was young, but she wasn't stupid, and even she could see how much trouble the boy infront of her went through to get her scarf back.

Levi, who had been standing there quietly amidst her little observation, shifted from one foot to another uneasily. She had been silent for the past few minutes, and he wondered if she had even understood a word he said. He was about to repeat himself, this time a little more loudly, when suddenly the weirdest thing happened: Mikasa _smiled._

For a second time in the past forty eight hours, Levi's orbs widened in a rather stupefied expression because, once again, he could not believe his eyes. Mikasa Ackerman was sitting there on the swing set, hands clutching at the fabric around her neck, and she was _smiling_. Mikasa didn't usually smile; she stared, and watched, and occasionally glared, but she only smiled on rare occasions (and whenever Eren was around, but that was beside the point). No, she didn't smile often, but he had to admit that it was quite... nice. Suddenly feeling warm, the boy gave a quick, sharp nod before whirling on his heel, so fast that he missed the near identical red flush on her cheeks.

It wasn't until a few minutes later that he realized she hadn't said a word to him in reply, not even a 'thank you' for a job well done. He frowned, feeling bitter disappointment bloom in his chest, but he stubbornly shook his head. It shouldn't bother him, he thought irritably as he made his way over to the sandbox, where Isabel was waving to him excitedly. Yet as he peeked back at the now contented girl behind him, he couldn't keep the crestfallen expression from his face.

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><p>It was only later, at exactly six o' clock in the evening, that a sudden knocking was heard from his door. Erwin was in the kitchen washing dishes, while Levi sat on the couch and read his book, patiently waiting for dinner to be ready. Wiping his hands on a dish towel, Erwin walked swiftly to the door and opened it, doing a double take as he found a little Japanese girl at his doorstep.<p>

"Hello, Mikasa." Erwin greeted, smiling warmly at the little girl before him, and she nodded back politely. He noticed that, for once, the girl before him wasn't her usual proper self. There was a smudge of dirt on nearly every inch of her body, and there were specks of grass in her usually pristine locks, but the man chose to say nothing. Nor did he question the girl's obvious attempt to hide something behind her back and out of his view, but he oddly found the image endearing. "Did you come here by yourself?" The girl only lived a few houses down though she rarely came to visit and Mikasa merely nodded before replying.

"Mama said I could come over before dinner starts," she said softly, "May I please speak to Levi?" The blonde man's brows rose in surprise, before a smile wormed across his face.

"Of course," he said, before turning back to call out, "Levi, you have a guest." Obediently, the little boy put down his book and padded to the doorway, looking at his surrogate father impassively. However, the moment the man motioned to the door Levi's eyes widened in surprise, and Erwin watched with interest as a light flush crept up the boy's neck and pooled in his cheeks. As if suddenly realizing he was being observed, the boy shot him a glare that was far too horrifying for a child his age, and with a chuckle Erwin left the two children to their privacy.

Levi, who had recovered from his brief shock, critically peered at the girl's disheveled and muddled appearance and frowned. "You look _dirty_," he said disgustedly, nose wrinkling in displeasure. Then, as an afterthought, he added, "Why are you here?"

She only blinked at his statement, as if suddenly realizing how filthy she actually was, and streaked her feet across the doormat in an attempt to mollify him. Before he could tell her that it the action would be meaningless- that she'd only end up tracking mud across _his_ doorstep-a bundle of petals suddenly assaulted his nose. Blue eyes wide, he jerked back and fought the urge to sneeze, looking back and forth from the flowers near his face and the girl before him. Seeming to see his confusion, the girl spoke.

"Mama said they're called Baby's Breath," she said, motioning to the flowers in her hand with her chin. Arms still stretched out, she suddenly bowed her head - because even if she pushed grubby boys to the ground, her mother had raised her to be polite- and said softly, "Thank you, Levi, for finding my scarf."

For a moment, Levi simply stared at her. And stared. And stared. Because for the life of him, he couldn't comprehend the was obvious from her appearance that she had tumbled quite hard to find those flowers, and she didn't seem the least bit bothered by the trouble.

She was mucky, and dirty, and downright _filthy_. Grass stains littered across her dress in giant green blotches, and her mary sues were almost buried in mud. She had dirt smudged to her cheek, and all across her chubby little hands, and this was the most disgusting he had had ever seen her. Even the flowers she was giving him right then were dusting off with dirt, and the roots were still hanging off the end of the stems in a rather crude way. It was all very undignified and splotchy.

So then why were his cheeks suddenly feeling very warm? Why was his heart stuttering and his ears turning pink and his hands shaking a little too much? This was too much to process at once, and belatedly he wondered if he was sick. _Cooties,_ Oluo had warned him at the playground, and with growing horror he pondered if he was infected. Suddenly the flowers infront of him lowered dejectedly, breaking him out of his thoughts, and he watched with a different kind of horror as Mikasa's previous happiness fell away.

"You don't like them?" she asked sadly, frowning gloomily as her large grey eyes lowered. Panic suddenly overwhelmed him, propelling him forward to grab her wrist.

"No!" he yelled, and quickly snatched the bundle from her hands. "I want these." he said possessively, hugging the floral closer despite its less than perfected state, and he watched as the frown on her face washed away and was replaced by a smile. His heart thumped. _Stupid cooties._

He liked her smile, he conceded, it was better than her usual bland face, and _definitely _better than her crying expression from yesterday. Yes, he liked her smile and he wanted to see more of it, he thought solemnly to himself, watching as she waved goodbye- she _never_ waved to him, and he found himself strangely happy at the gesture- and took off running down the street. Her little form slowly shrunk until she took a sharp right turn and disappeared into her house, but even still his grip on the bundle only tightened. Closing the door behind him, he made his way to the kitchen where he showed Erwin his new treasure, and once it was cleaned and refined he set it on the kitchen windowsill. That same bundle sat there for the next two weeks, and even as it withered away the boy's goal remained the same.

Yes, she had a nice smile, and he would _protect_ that smile- even if it meant tolerating crooked cravats and scraped palms and dirty bouquets of flowers.

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><p><strong>Wouldn't it be cute if Attack on Titan was just a weird version of freeze tag, with no death, casualties, or sadness? Ah, if only (it would definitely save us from our feel-trips haha). <strong>

**This is a lot less elaborate writing, because in all honestly little kids can't be too articulate at this age lol. Hope you like it, reviews are welcome!**


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